What Damage Can Rodents Inflict On Your Home?

What would you do if you saw a rat crawling around the kitchen of your favorite restaurant? Disgusted, right?

What you probably don’t know is that many houses (especially older ones) are home to rodents without their owner even knowing. Whether these pests are hiding in your basement, attic, pantry, or even inside of your walls, the first step to solving your rodent problem is by knowing how these creatures get in, and the damage that you’ll see if they are living in your residence.

Invasion

One of the downsides of buying an older house is all the cracks and holes that are found along the foundation of the building and the small gaps in the windows and ceilings. Although they may look small, pests like mice are prone to get in. Often, rodents enter during the fall or winter time when food is becoming more scarce in their natural environments and the temperature is plummeting. Once they enter, they proliferate exponentially to host a huge population in just a matter of weeks.
The best way to prevent this unwanted invasion is by keeping track of all the openings in your house and filling cracks and gaps with metal or concrete that will block these rodents from entering in the first place. In the meanwhile, store all your food in airtight containers so that they don’t attract these creatures. A few simple steps can stop many problems before they even start.

Attack

Once a rodent gets into your home, the damage that it can cause can be enormous. The first thing that you would probably notice would be the mouse droppings, little black pieces that look almost like raisins. If you do find any, get some gloves and antiseptic spray to dispose of them and call pest control right away. Odd noises is another clue that rats are scurrying around in the walls and floorboards. However, the worst part of a rodent is it’s teeth. Rodents will gnaw on almost anything. Apart from having strange scratches and nicks all over your household belongings, rats can also chew on electric wires to cause a fire or other hazardous materials.
It’s really important to know the signs of a rodent invasion before your whole house becomes a mess of droppings and chewed belongings. Most of the time, mousetraps and rat poison aren’t enough. Don’t delay to call rodent experts like us to take care of these critters before they infest your house.